The university must be the guardian of open debate, courteous argument, civil speaking and respectful listening. It must provide space for dissenting minds and for voices that challenge our comfortable assumptions. It must teach us to distinguish truth from falsehood, cogent argument from sophistry, the presentation of evidence from mere passion and persuasion. Never must it fall into the ‘intellectual organisation of political hatreds’ that reduced European universities to moral bankruptcy in the 1920s and 1930s, for if it does so it will have betrayed its mandate to protect our political
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